Mission Mission

Perhaps it had something to do with that weird one-day mid-December heatwave we had yesterday, but for a few hours between 4 and 5pm, the sunset was definitely something to behold.  And it wasn’t just restricted to our wonderful Mission neighborhood, as our (GWAR-demystifying) pal Trevor demonstrates:

Woah, his camera phone is waaaaaay better than mine!

Previously:

Sunset from the Sunset

Sunset from the Five

Sunset from Dragon Calvalry

Sunset Lagoon

The eternal question:  What to do when your uncle left you in charge of his car and you’ve got a few hours to kill before you the Weezer cover band goes on later that evening?  The answer, as always:  EXPLORATION ADVENTURE!

This particular expedition led us to what we believe to be the highest taqueria in San Francisco.  Not quite in the sense that they also function as a green medicinal clinic, but rather according to pure altitude.  Nestled up against Twin Peaks on 755 Portola Drive, the Miraloma Market appears at first to be just another neighborhood grocery store until you realize that it also houses a full-fledged and surprisingly tasty taco shop of its own inside.

The menu includes all the regular stuff you’d expect, such as juicy al pastor and delectable carnitas in burritos and quesadillas and such, but the highlight is the unique EL VEGGIE burrito, which consists of an assortment of steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and other vegetables in addition to the normal beans, rice, cheese, salsa, and guacamole.  Yes, that’s a right:  a Broccoli Burrito.  Delicious enough to get any Papalote-loving vegetarian up the hill once in a while.

Adventure wins once again (and that Weezer cover band was pretty good too).

[Photo by Allan Hough]

In case you missed soon-to-be Orange County punk legends Cat Party a few weeks ago at Bender’s, Andy Miller (who last brought us the supremely metaphysical “Women on the Women’s Building“) has you covered here with a quick and dirty interview interwoven with some of their best tunes.  Singer and guitarist Ryan Nichols has a lot to say about everything from San Francisco vs. Orange County to fast vs. slow songs.

If you like what you see, they’re playing again on New Year’s Eve Eve (December 30th) at the Hemlock along with the frenetic Face the Rail and (once again) my band, La Corde.  Stick that in your planner!

He says he’s been skating the streets of the Mission every night for the last seven years, although this is the first time that I’ve ever seen him.  Nonetheless, he’s definitely on to something, just like those rollerblade soccer players that you sometimes see at Sunday Streets (or in North Beach).

He told me to go long for a hail mary, but after I had sprinted half a block in a perfect deep route, he pulled a Michael Vick and just tucked the ball for a quarterback sneak.  Hopefully he managed to avoid being sacked by the Muni bus in hot pursuit.

$5 bloody marys and look at those napkins! Not only are they artfully arranged, but they’re also so effortlessly retrievable in event of emergency.

Aspiring bartenders, please take note.

And with that, the last remaining liquor store that supplied the treasured liquid is exhausted.

Or is it?

Previously:

FDA to Ban Four Loko Nationwide

The party bus pulled into its parking spot and a massive throng of 20-somethings spilled out and began marching determinedly toward their destination.  The obvious thing to do was to see what kind of crazy fun they were up to, so of course we followed them.  From their conversations, it sounded as though they were all European, until we realized we were really drunk and they were just speaking in plain old regular English.

Where was the hot party spot at which they ended up?  Why, El Farolito of course!  The only strange thing was that it was 11pm rather than 2am, which means that it was no Broke-Ass Stuart party bus.  Still, that is one rad looking bus.

This opportunistic bus managed to lodge itself into the intersection for not one, but two (2!!!!!) traffic light cycles this morning, no doubt causing Muni traffic down Market Street to merge into an even more congealed morass than normal.  Not even daring cyclists could get through!  If you were late for work downtown this morning, you know who to blame.

Protip:  If you’re about to cross Market Street and the light turns yellow, just stop.  It’s not going to work out.

Even though I’ve lived through quite a few Christmas seasons here in the Mission, for some reason I’ve never noticed these Christmas lights adorning all the trees lining 24th Street.  Do these get put up every year?  Who is behind this festive endeavor?  With Thanksgiving weekend still in its death throws, they sure didn’t waste any time!

For those of you who want to get a sense of how we celebrate the holidays here at MM, just pour a little whiskey in your champurrado and sit around the fireplace listening to this:

Also . . . ABBA CHRISTMAS.

At the least the one good thing about being stuck in bumper to bumper traffic in the middle of California on the 5 (or is it I-5?) is that it afforded us the chance to enjoy the beautiful sunset.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend.